Two Euros Please!

Germany is experiencing some difficult moments with the euro. Not only has the quality of its products created the best trade surplus, neck and neck with China, but it must also cope with a single currency in a range of various economic situations where it cannot act. Voices have been raised in Germany calling for a withdrawal from the euro. Other more moderate, but equally dangerous, voices are proclaiming an appetite for two euros - one for the strong European economies and another for the weaker ones. This would be the reinvention of a form of North-South divide on a European scale. Conscious of the difficulties, and aware that it would not automatically find itself in the strong euro zone, France came to calm Germany with a firm hand, and the recommendation to consider a stronger European governance. Weary the initial exchanges between the two driving forces of Europe rapidly turned into a deaf-mutes’ conversation. The proposal was clearly very European in spirit, but if the outcome was going to be a sort of Nice-Treaty (or Nice-Treachery), the larger UE would be profoundly undermined from within. Germany has leaned with all the weight of its inhabitants to gain more authority in European decisions. A change of paradigm which has caused a crack in the edifice. All this is of greater concern than the Portuguese or Spanish deficits.